Paradox Interactive, Swedish publisher of many strategy and simulation titles including Cities: Skylines and Surviving Mars, have acquired the Prison Architect IP from developer Introversion Software, the two companies have announced. Purchased for an undisclosed sum, the acquisition means that Paradox own all rights and assets for Prison Architect and will take ownership for the game on all current and any future platforms.

Paradox CEO, Ebba Ljungerud, was naturally delighted with the purchase, and hinted at the publisher's plans for the IP in the future:

Ever since our partnership with Introversion in 2017 [publishing the mobile version], the Paradox team has felt that Prison Architect is a natural fit for our catalogue. Just as we've done for other management-strategy games like Cities: Skylines and Surviving Mars, I believe the considerable player base of Prison Architect will be excited to see where we can take the game next, and we’re eager to explore development of potential new games based off of the 'Architect' IP. We promise to exercise good behaviour with this cherished title going forward.

Mark Morris, co-founder of Introversion Software, was equally enthusiastic about the future, both for the Prison Architect IP and Introversion themselves:

Prison Architect has been an intensely rewarding project for us. Every developer loves seeing their creations come to life, but through Early Access, launch on multiple platforms and over a dozen post-launch content updates, we've been building and managing this building-and-management game for nearly a decade. I think we've taken Prison Architect just about as far as we can, and we're all eager to see where a team like Paradox can take it next! This also gives Introversion the chance to work on what we've got coming up next - more on that soon.

So it sounds like more games are on the horizon from both Paradox and Introversion. Introversion's next game may be difficult to predict but for Paradox Interactive — if you ask me — "Hospital Architect" seems like a natural progression given the nostalgia people have for the likes of Theme Hospital. Of course, feel free to sound off with your own suggestions in the comments.